


Perihelion

by corvidity



Category: Gintama
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-27
Updated: 2015-08-27
Packaged: 2018-04-17 13:06:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4667660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/corvidity/pseuds/corvidity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Perihelion - the point in the orbit of a planet, asteroid, or comet at which it is closest to the Sun</p>
            </blockquote>





	Perihelion

Distance is warped in Yoshiwara, the night stretching minutes into hours, into months. You comb the streets, the alleys and passageways folded up on each other, trying to find your way back home. The women you have trained whisper by in the darkness, oblivious to you, sunk so deeply in the shadows.

The night is indifferent, and the sun cold. You have toiled years and years in an unforgiving darkness, your own light cupped between fragile hands. Keep it hidden, keep it safe. Keep circling the other light to which they are all attracted; keep watch from afar. You guard your silence with a heavy tongue, for too many have paid the price for you not to honour their memory. You hover, you close your eyes and breathe out, the smoke curling around a pale, pale moon. Waxing and waning, you drift.

The years coil atop one another; the streets snake deeper and deeper into the night.

You are patient, waiting for daylight and freedom. In the meantime, you run through shadows and draw them into your service. You are sinew and bone, you are wavering moonlight, a frost white void that is the last thing men see before they fall in. Still, it is not enough, it never is. You pass countless moons witnessing the same arguments, administering the same judgements by flashing metal and mortal steel.

You wait, and wait some more, kindling hope. As long as she remains here, you can bear the distance. You need to keep faith, because everything rests on her. In the blink of an eye, everything changes: the earth trembles underfoot and the heavens crack open; as the sky caves in your vision is flooded with all the light you have never seen, but you feel its warmth and marvel. She is there, in front of you, and the years unwind in an instant. The night surrenders to her smile, the stars fading to pinpricks and incoherent constellations. You face the sun, and you are full.

* * *

 You are the sun of Yoshiwara, and all the women look up to you. Your radiance lightened their hearts under the rule of the Night King, gave them hope in the darkest hours. But you were the one who sought the sun’s warmth the most, you who were condemned to the dark and made to give up your freedom. You are lighter and heavier than the shadows, than all the light we cannot see, falling away from the Earth and towards the stars, who continue to adore you. There is another being there, who guards the stars as her sisters and shrouds them in her light. It is you alone who sees the wan light she casts, you who wants to protect it with a burning desire.

Time flashes by in bright colours, rustling fabrics, crescent moons, and so much darkness.

You have no choice but to remain in the glow of lanterns and eerie white smiles, waiting, biding your time. You cannot help but think that it is all in vain, but then you see her light spilling from the darkest corners of this godforsaken town, and you hold onto hope for a little longer. You watch her drifting, your body yearns to drift with her. But your feet no longer obey your body, and they tie you to the earth, to the cold, hard ground of Yoshiwara.

You worry for the boy when he appears again, shining brightly in this cesspool. You remember fear collecting at the back of your throat, and you send her to guide him back above ground. Before you know it, sunlight floods the streets you once thought would be permanently dyed in night. Before you is the son you thought you’d lost for good, before you is the one who has always faithfully reflected your light – but now she is radiant by herself, and you welcome all of her with a glowing smile.

**Author's Note:**

> I need to clear out all my half-finished fic before I start new ones... and I really want to write more for this pairing.


End file.
